In surgical procedures, sutures are commonly used to close incisions and to reunite damaged tissue. Typically, the sutures are maneuvered and passed through the affected tissue and the free ends of the sutures are individually tied together by the surgeon. In most surgical incisions, the surgical site area is sufficiently exposed to permit the surgeon to access and quickly tie the suture manually with a surgical knot. However, in other surgical procedures, such as endoscopic procedures, laparoscopic procedures, arthroscopic procedures and the like, or when robotic surgical procedures occur, the suturing site is inaccessible to the surgeon's hands. As a result, the surgeon needs to tie each of the suture ends into a knot at a location remote from the suturing site, and then manipulate suitably configured instruments for sliding the surgical knot to the suturing site of the incision. Further, surgeons may tie surgical knots intracorporeally (inside of the body) using surgical tools to tie the knot down to the tissue. Conventionally, most surgical sutures are secured with surgical knots that are somewhat cumbersome and slow to tie. As a result, knot tying is one of the more time-consuming steps in the suturing process of the surgical procedure. Also, it is noted that knots are weak points in a suture. That is to say, when a knotted suture is broken from applied tension (assuming the suture is otherwise free from imperfections), the suture will break at the knot.
Co-pending, commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/122,970 filed Apr. 12, 2002 discloses a suture anchoring device addressing the problems discussed above. More particularly, the suture anchoring device is made from a coiled member having a helical configuration with a multiplicity of turns. When used in connection with a surgical procedure, the suture anchoring device is positioned adjacent to a wound site and a suture is attached to at least two of the turns so as to anchor the suture to the coiled member.
Various tools have been developed in the past for facilitating the attachment of sutures to securing mechanisms, such as clips, retainers, etc. (see, for instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,520,702, 6,099,553 and 6,231,592). However, these tools are not adapted for use in anchoring a suture to the suture anchoring device disclosed in the '970 Application discussed above. Accordingly, there is a need for a tool for deploying such a device at a wound site.